Dragon of The North, You're Human
by EXPLODINGWEWILLGO
Summary: Soi doesn't remember much from her life in China. Taken to Japan early and raised to kill she's covered in mysteries even she doesn't understand. All she has is her title of a killer for the King. Dropped, take it up if you want but let me know.
1. Chapter 1

**I dunno if I'll make this into a whole story...maybe...we'll have to see. I was just kinda bored and this idea hit me so...here it is. This story has several different culture ideas, I didn't want to be specific.**

**OOCness. (Yes Soi does see Kisuke as a kind of friend but she still views him as annoying, I tried to keep that much in character seeing as everyone seems to take everything so serious these days. Kinda sucks the joy from being a writer sometimes.)**

**I own nothing blah blah blah...everyone knows. My xxxHOLiC fic is almost over...and I'm thinking of going back and reopening some stories like Never and O.I.K.W.Y.L.A. But this will be after I finish my current two stories. My Wicked story is closed for now until I find the time to recharacterize some things about it.**

**Anyways...read on. **

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><p>The stages are…an infant, a baby, a toddler, a child, a teen, an adult, elderly…and then death.<p>

Everything is almost worry free up until you're almost a teen. Then life is nothing but worry. At least until you die of course. Never a worry again. Though of course you never worry more than in the few moments before death.

"And they say before you die your life flashes before your eyes."

"Bullshit."

"Mou, must you be that way?" A blonde man stared across the table he was seated at. The woman he was watching shrugged, leaning against the shelf of books behind her as she pulled her calloused fingers through her already messy hair with one of her gloved hands.

"Well is its Kisuke. I don't know why you study that stuff." She waved an airy hand at the now glaring scholar.

Kisuke huffed. "Because I have to, and it's interesting."

"Hardly." She ruffled her ink black hair again.

"Soi, what makes it so hard to believe even that?" He didn't sound upset, simply curious.

She glared at him when he used her name. "I'm an assassin in case you've forgotten. I deal with death on every mission I get. And I've had several close calls myself. My life has never 'flashed' before my eyes." She rolls her eyes at the end.

Kisuke huffs, sitting back in the chair. "Whatever, we're done with the library today." He straightened his green vest and white undershirt. "I've got something for you." He straightens his green slacks when he stands.

Soi rolls her eyes. "You're such a stick."

Kisuke glared at her. "I am not and you know it. I can't go looking like you with the job I have."

"Whatever." She waved a hand and looked away. They were a stark contrast of each other.

Soi had stopped caring about keeping a 'neat' appearance when she'd gotten into the killing business. Opting, instead, to wear a black sleeveless shirt with leather bands around her biceps and plain baggy pants. She hated shoes, only wearing them on missions. Kisuke called it luck that she never got anything stuck in her feet.

Kisuke was the opposite. He was messy and scruffy until he started to work for the royal family. They needed a tap of information and he just so happened to have several connections, his best one standing in front of him. He's opted out of wearing his comfortable lounging clothes to the stiff scholar uniform he had on now. And his once terribly cut messy hair had to be re-cut more fashionably and he usually kept it almost slicked back.

They were always opposites. Since they'd met in the orphanage. Soi had hated him; she'll admit she still does to some extent, though he's much more bearable now. He was so laid back he didn't care how much she yelled at him, he just followed her around for a solid three days until she actually had a conversation with him. They were friends and enemies. Encouraging each other to do better in their own ways.

And now here they were. Years later. Soi taking lives so she could stay off the streets and keep a roof over her head. Kisuke serving the royal family for much the same reason. All of Soi's missions came from the royal family's underground branch that took care of guarding and keeping peace.

So of course they had to share a place to make everything easier. The city wasn't overly expensive, but it sure wasn't cheap.

"Weren't you told to use my codename outside the palace?" She glared at him.

Kisuke blanched. "Oh yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck, glancing around. "Sorry Dragon." He hated her codename, but it was fitting. And one she'd received when getting her job from the underground branch. It matched her when she really went all out in a fight.

Un-tame, wild, powerful…deadly. A dragon from the north.

China.

"So what is it?" Soi stood and tucked her hand into her pockets, the leather bands strained and then relaxed.

Kisuke walked around the table and pulled a slip of paper from the front pocket on his vest. "Enjoy." He handed her the paper and turned, waving as he walked off.

"Another mission! I just got back last night!" She called, ignoring the loud shushing.

"You don't have to leave until tomorrow morning. Get a good night's sleep while you can." He answered, heading for the door. "I gotta go back to work."

Soi sighed. '_Great_.' She stared at the information on the paper. '_Another assassin trying to get the king? Can't say I blame them,_' she shrugged, heading out after Kisuke. '_But a job is a job and a job is money_.'

The king was fine when it came to taxes, living, and matters like that. But things like keeping peace and trades and the rumors about his hand in black arts.

He was just a face. He couldn't make any serious choices on his own. When he does it usually ended badly. The last mistake was the black market and back alley deals. It got them all into a lot of trouble.

'_Leave it to me to clean up the mess._' She blinked as she stepped outside and the fading sun caught her full face. '_Time to sleep_.' She tucked away the paper and jogged down the cobbled streets, bare feet padding on the stones.

* * *

><p>Soi was passed out on the living room couch when Kisuke finally finished work for the day. He shook his head with a sigh and looked up when someone walked out of the back. "Hey Isane." He greeted.<p>

They shared the apartment with more than four people. For a three and a half room place the shared room wasn't all that bad. More money, more food.

Isane was studying to be a medic.

"Hi Kisuke. How was work?" The tall female asked as she frowned down at the sleeping Soi. "I think she wants to catch a cold." She mumbled.

Kisuke chuckled. "Maybe she does. And work was the same old thing. But…she's getting more requests from underground." He ruffled his hair and smiled when that annoying sticky feeling went away as his hair became neatly scruffy.

Isane pulled down Soi's shirt and pulled the small blanket from the back of the couch over her. The assassin mumbled and rolled over, away from them. "…What exactly is the king up to?" Isane glanced over at the blonde, her silver hair flickering in the lights from the back.

Kisuke sat on the small cushioned chair beside the couch, looking for a second towards the back. He could trust the older ones, but Isane's little sister...not a chance.

"She's asleep. I'd hear the door open if she wasn't."

Kisuke nodded, his eyes looking now at his clasped hands. "Well…I'm honestly not so sure. There are all of these rumors flying around and I'm not sure what to believe. The most popular one though is that the king is trying to get immortality for his wife and daughter."

"What?" Isane blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, so there are all kinds of rumors that he's delving into black magic, making enemies in the wrong places, illegal dealings…all kinds of things. But there just so much, and I don't know what's true or not. It used to be easy to tell, yunno? But now…he's always hiding in the shadows. I haven't seen his face in months now."

"…What's going to happen to Soi?"

"It's her job. If she quits now it'll only look suspicious." He frowned, remembering another rumor. "She may be called in to actually protect the king's wife and daughter. Then again…rumors are just that usually." He sighed and sat back, covering his eyes with his arm. "This is all too much."

"Right now just focus on what you have to. There's no use getting uptight over rumors right?" Isane mumbled, trying her best to be encouraging.

He smiled, pulling his arm up to look at her. "Yeah, thanks."

She nodded and stood, heading back to her shared room.

Kisuke sighed. "Life is fuckin nuts right now; I hope we pull through Soi." He spoke to the sleeping girl. "What am I talking about," he scoffed. "You always pull everyone through." He finally let out one last huff as he closed his eyes.

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><p>Soi rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stepped into the kitchen. The sound of silverware clicking on plates and the soft sound of chewing and the occasional mumble was the only noise there.<p>

Isane was sitting on the right end of the table. A red head with a nasty attitude sat in the middle beside another teen his age with oddly colored orange hair. The other spaces were vacant.

"Kukaku and Kiyone already go to school?" She asked, walking over to snag a sip of juice from the half empty glass resting beside Isane.

"Yeah, Renji and I got a day off." The orange haired teen grinned.

"Yeah finally." The red head, Renji, rolled his eyes. Work hours had been pushed up, King's orders.

"Kisuke says taxes are going to go up." Isane sighed.

"That bull. What's he doing, making more money to support his dark deals?" Renji scoffed.

Soi sighed. "I have to go. I should be back in a few days." She stood, trying not to notice all of the things starting to go wrong. Things like raised taxes did happen after all. But the King not showing his face like he used to…that was something else.

Soi had her own room, the smallest one. She needed to, her job called on her at all hours. The small space only held a small bed shoved against the wall under the window, a closet and a dressed tucked into the corner near the door. She pulled out a leather deer skin bag and started packing a few clothes.

She turned when there was a small knock on the open door's frame. "Ichigo." She nodded at the orange haired teen before turning back to her task.

"Sorry to bug you, I just thought I'd ask you. Cause Kisuke isn't here, Renji's an idiot and I didn't want to make Isane worry." He stepped through the doorway.

"What is it?"

He sighed, rubbing his head with the heel of his palm. "It's not true is it?"

Soi stopped and turned to him. "What?"

"All these rumors about the King. They're everywhere and a lot of them are the same. That the King is turning to the black magic stuff. I heard some girls talking about he was getting into Alchemy now. That he's trying to turn the whole city into a sacrifice to get the secret to being immortal." He was babbling, his eyes were narrowed and his lips were pulled down in a tight line.

"Rumors are just rumors Ichigo. That's why they're called that, because usually they aren't true." Soi reasoned.

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah but…I was just wondering…with your job you must be able to get information pretty easy."

Soi looked at him again, pulling the string to close her bag. "Your point?"

"Can't you find out if there's some truth to it?" He sighed again. "It's just…if it's true…I don't want any of us to be here if,"

"Stop. It's a rumor Ichigo. Don't bother worrying about it." She couldn't leave either way anyways. If she had vital information and was seen as a threat…she'd have her head chopped off or worse she'd be hung in public.

He let his head drop, chin touching his chest. His shoulders slumped. "Just…keep an ear out?"

"Fine." She walked out passed him and headed out. "I'm leaving." She called.

"See you later!"

"Be safe!"

Soi rolled her eyes at the typical replies. She glanced back to see Ichigo close her door and give a small wave. She felt only slightly guilty. Turning she left, the door snapping shut behind her.

* * *

><p>Midnight…it was the perfect time for an assassin to do their job, or for a clumsy kid with almost revolutionary thoughts to get a lucky drop on a palace guard.<p>

Soi was never that clumsy kid. She'd been brought from China by another King when she was small. She can't really remember what exact age. She remembers being trained to kill though. Snapping the vertebrae in the neck…feeling that twist of bone before and after it cracked…

Sometimes she was surprised she was still sane. But she supposed she was just stronger than most people.

And now, tucked into darkness for her first night on the job, bare feet pressing into the wood of the tree she was perched in. Her back was placed firmly against the bark.

She stared at the triangle tattoos on her feet that pointed in opposite direction. The one on her left foot pointed in towards her ankle. She traced the other with her right hand in a bored manner, eyeing the triangle on the back of said hand.

Kisuke asked once why she had them, she couldn't really even remember when she had them carved into her skin, so she shrugged and answered with 'Because I liked the design.' Which wasn't a total lie…it just wasn't the whole truth simply because she didn't know it all.

Soi didn't know much about any of her history. She was told it hadn't mattered so she never thought to ask. It really only crossed her mind in moments like these when she was alone. Totally and completely alone.

Or so she figured she was. She peered down when she heard voices.

They mumbled in deep voices and dressed in blood red robes. Soi assumed they were males. There were only…five of them…plus the man they were dragging through the dirt and mud.

He was chained at his wrists and ankles, pulled along feet first. Dressed in worn rags so damaged it was almost impossible to guess the color. His dirt matted hair clung to his face and scalp. His hands were clasped tightly together with his eyes squeezed shut and his thin lips moving in silence.

Soi realized he was praying.

How hopeless…if Kami or any other gods wanted him unharmed something would have happened long ago to save him. Judging from his looks he'd been pulled like this for at least three days. There was crusting blood around the shackles at his feet.

Soi would have to save him. If she didn't she'd have to admit to being a monster…the real Dragon from the north.

She made a face…a god that makes a poor man suffer so…how…cruel.

* * *

><p>She had to admit she enjoyed a chase, however small and meager or shot it was.<p>

Soi slithered through the shadows of the branches. Her feet slipped along the smooth wood of the trees. Nothing ruffled the leaves but the wind.

She watched the cloaked men come to a clearing; a strange symbol etched in red had been dug into the dirt. Was it stained that color from blood? Soi figured it was more likely than she wanted to believe.

Lurking back in the shadows she watched as the imprisoned man was all but thrown to the center as the men took places around the marking of red.

The man began to cry, Soi felt a twinge of sympathy. The men started to chant.

_'This can't happen…'_ Soi pulled the small dagger from its sheath at her back. She didn't make a sound as she landed.

The darkness was always the best time to kill when killing.


	2. Chapter 2

**I dunno if I'll make this into a whole story...maybe...we'll have to see. I was just kinda bored and this idea hit me so...here it is. This story has several different culture ideas, I didn't want to be specific.**

**OOCness. (Yes Soi does see Kisuke as a kind of friend but she still views him as annoying, I tried to keep that much in character seeing as everyone seems to take everything so serious these days. Kinda sucks the joy from being a writer sometimes.)**

**I own nothing blah blah blah...everyone knows. After this I'm finishing my last chapter of my xxxHOLIC fanfic and then a few more chapters and I'll be done with my iCarly fanfic. I'm dropping myWicked fanfic, I'm just not good enough to write it the way I want. And I'm in a funk in life right now. Which means I'm having trouble doing much of anything, even the thing I love the most..writing.**

**Anyways...read on. **

**Oh and all those reading my old Hellboy stories...I'm never EVER going to finish them! Get over it! I have no flare for Hellboy anymore. I've barely seen 1 HB/Liz story and that's my fav pairing! Not that I'm homophobic (being a lesbian myself) but Hellboy isn't gay. And it's weird to say he is because...well look at him. He's Hellboy! **

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><p><em>Finger in her mouth, gray eyes staring. Her feet pointed only just towards each other, all the other kids were the height of five feet at least…but here she was at four feet and only just.<em>

_"Does she ever talk?"_

_"Not usually." _

_Her steel gray eyes, cold and calculating with only a little hidden curiosity. Her skin was severely pale. Her hair was short but messy when the wind blew and didn't settle down much when it stopped. _

_"What exactly are you trying to teach her?" _

_Bitter tales are usually_ left _alone. And her tale is only_ but _bitter_.

_She took a few steps, the other children spotted her, and she took a few more. She removed her finger from her mouth and lowered her arms awkwardly to her sides. The other kids clamored around to see her properly; because all children love 'new' and at their age the concept of 'space' does not apply._

_Her brow furred as she felt pokes and prods at her shoulders and arms. "Is she Chinese?" An older boy asks loudly. "No, maybe American."_ _An older girl responds._ _"I've never seen an American with eyes like that."_ _A slightly younger kid she can't see speaks up._

_"Is it a boy?"_ _Younger girls whisper. "Maybe a girl? Look at that hair."_ _Younger boys mumble._

_She's only three and has yet to speak her first words, just glares off at everything that distracts her from herself. She's never seen a reason to speak; her motions seem to get her by on what she means just fine so far._

_She stumbles back onto the grass with the other kids that are now on edge around her. Her feet are still clumsy; she's never really run till today._

_"She's a little tyke." _

_"Indeed." _

_"Get out of that street!" _

_But it's too late, for the girl or for anyone else to pull her out of the way of the carriage coming._

_All in all it could be seen that she was lucky, of course not really. _

_She only knows that her left side feels funny. It's light and suddenly covered with something warm and a little tacky. She can feel it on her face here and there too, but what is it?_

_A woman shouts for somebody to call someone. She looks over at herself to see that open exposed bone and the raw muscle and tissue just…_there_. She can see the red spreading quickly and it's making her hand sticky, like dry sugar water._

_A doctor is there and everyone watches them attend to the girl's open arm socket. They only found bits of the arm…not enough to put it back together._

_And she is so confused. Her nerves are still wired with the shock of the accident. Every time she blinks something has changed. And when she finally starts to feel again…she first feels tingles on her left side. She glances down and wonders where her arm is for just a second, before she starts to feel more. But now she's feeling pain. And it hurts, it hurts, it hurts._

_It hurts so much her three year old brain doesn't know if she should laugh, cry, scream, thrash, or whatever else she can think of. She opens her mouth and realizes for the first time that a gas like mask is over it. _

_A few wheezes and people she assumes are doctors that she's just noticed lean closer, curious but still worried. She closes her mouth…opens it again. "Ouch."_

_Her very first word._

* * *

><p><em>"Soi?"<em> _Someone asks, wearing that plastic shiny name card on the center of their chest. She's staring over at the wall, dull and glassy eyed._ _"Soi…,"_ _they try again._

_Soi blinks and lifts her head less than an inch to show she can hear._

_"You're going to be in surgery this afternoon."_ _They explain slowly. The doctors said she was still in shock but the everyone knew better. Soi was tired; the drugs in her system made her more dull outwards than usual._

_Soi lowers her head again and blinks, chest heaving out and back in, a large puff of air leaving her slightly open lips. _

_She doesn't see the point of responding; it's clearly already been decided._

* * *

><p>She blinks. Suddenly she's back; she can't remember when she left. But she's back in the circle. All the men in robes are dead and gone and the tied man is still praying. He was shaking much harder now than before.<p>

Soi glances down at herself. There's red all over her hands and her dagger is dripping with it. She couldn't remember when she started attacking or when she finished. The blood was becoming sticky so it must have been a few minutes.

The triangle marks on the backs of her hands seemed to look angry against the red and white.

Soi steps over a corpse, silently cursing herself for not leaving one alive so she could get answers as to who they were and who they worked for. She swiped her dagger across her shirt; it left it even darker than before, and tucked it into its sheath.

The man jumped and twitched away violently when Soi grabbed his shoulder in a tight grip. She shook him and he opened his eyes slowly. He stared up at her with wide eyes.

She must look a sight, she figured, covered in blood with the moon light beaming down on her back. She must look insane, she figured. But that didn't matter.

"A-are you g-going to k-kill me?" He stuttered and stumbled over his words. The killer in her enjoyed the fear.

"No. I'll let you go free as soon as you answer some of my questions." She answered easily.

He nodded shakily, still shivering and quaking like a leaf in the wind.

"Why were those men after you?"

He swallowed. "I-I think it's b-because I work with t-the research department."

"What were you researching?"

"T-the king asked us t-to try and f-find a way to make his family l-live forever. W-we were looking into it, b-but it all got out of hand."

"What do you mean?"

He unclasped his hands, as if they had been glued together, and brought them to his head. "Some of the o-others took it t-to far. They d-did extensive r-research."

Soi was hoping this wouldn't happen. "Research into what?"

"I-I don't k-know! Something a-awful and i-inhumane. It was…it was a few y-years ago, before I c-came to work here." So he didn't know all the details.

"What were those men doing?"

He glanced around and noticed the bodies for the first time. He gave a yelp of fear and curled in on himself. "Alchemy." He answered in a hushed mumble.

Shit…this wasn't good. She had to let Kisuke know. But what would he do with the information she gave him? Would he tell the king? No…that could get her killed. He would never sell her out as a traitor.

"Get out of here. Don't say a word about what you've seen tonight. It may be in your best interest to find a new job." She let him fall back.

He landed in a growing pool of blood. He screamed, jumping up and running off as fast as is wiry legs could carry him.

Soi scoffed. "Coward." But she couldn't really blame him. She would be just as scared if people took her from her home.

Oh wait…they had.

* * *

><p>One day later and some food shorter, Soi sat perched outside a window, peering into a large laboratory. She didn't understand what they were doing or why or for whom.<p>

But she had to get inside and question someone. This was where the man had been taken from, or so she assumed. She had no idea where said man was…he was probably in the belly of a wild animal by now.

Even though she'd saved his life, the idea of him dead didn't strike much of an emotion.

She slithered down the tree in the shadows. Reminding herself of a snake as she crept along the ground, on the tips of her toes and the pads of her fingers. Or maybe a hyena…they weren't known to make much noise besides that tell-tale cackle laugh.

She slid in through an open window on the ground floor, she sniffed and winced. The room was dark and coated with thick plumes of purple clouds of something the assassin could not identify. Suddenly glad she'd been trained to hold her breath for four minutes.

She couldn't see what was in the room but she could see the door, a slim beam of light came from the small crack.

Pulling out her dagger she peered out carefully. The hallway was just as dim. But it was thanks to some unknown deity that a tired looking old man in a lad coat walked down the hall, gas mask on, reading papers in a thick folder.

Soi smirked, ducking back into the darkness…she slipped out and followed him a few steps before pulling the mask off and covering his mouth with her hand. The stench of the purples fumes was still strong but they stayed at waist level, reminding the assassin of a poisonous bog.

"You scream and I'll kill you. Understand?" The man nodded. It was slightly amusing how she stood at four feet eleven inches yet she terrified grown men that stood almost half a foot taller. Though not this man. He was graying and reached a stumpy five foot almost two inches.

"Where are they conducting the human experiments?" She released his mouth.

"D-downstairs. Bottom f-floor."

"Where are the files on alchemy?"

"D-down the hall."

"Black arts?"

"Same."

Soi took a step back, fully willing to let the man live before she realized she shouldn't risk it.

He'd just breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the vice grip on his shoulder. The assassin mumbled an apology as she pressed herself into his back and brought the dagger around and up.

The sharp double-edged blade slid easily through the flesh and muscle of his throat. Cutting back and just barely brushing his spine enough to kill him almost instantly.

She'd angled up through the bottom of the jaw, almost no blood. She swiped the blood off once again on her pants and sheathed the dagger. The man slumped boneless to the hard ground. Soi pulled on his gas mask as she pulled him into the room she'd slunk in through.

Pulling his lab coat off his corpse she tugged it on and left the room, snagging his dropped file. She only read the word transmutation to know she should hold onto it.

* * *

><p>She slid through the halls, cautious in case she saw anyone else. She only ran into one and they didn't even look at her.<p>

She spotted it finally, the hall seemed to stretch on forever. She spotted a symbol on the door that matched the symbol on the papers in her hands. She pressed the door open…

"…oh dear God." She swallowed her uneasiness and the rising bile. The stench was unbelievable. "Oh…no…"


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing blah blah blah...everyone knows. After this I'm finishing my last chapter of my xxxHOLIC fanfic and then a few more chapters and I'll be done with my iCarly fanfic. I'm dropping myWicked fanfic, I'm just not good enough to write it the way I want. And I'm in a funk in life right now. Which means I'm having trouble doing much of anything, even the thing I love the most..writing.**

**Anyways...read on.**

_There is important news on my profile! So if you love Different Blood, Only I Know What You're Like Alone, or almost any of my other old stories...read it up! Cause you'll want to know about my newest project. (Oh, Hellboy stories and Soi's Star 2 and Never...do not apply!)_

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><p>She could feel the bile rise and brush the back of her throat, she hadn't eaten much so it was simply stomach acid that burned and left a disgusting after taste once she swallowed it back down.<p>

Her eyes burnt from something rancid that stung her sense of smell and made her stomach continue to churn the acid uncomfortably.

Rotting flesh, she finally figured. Nothing else would smell so bad and she'd had this smell stuck to her before. It'll take days to wash off.

In the dim light, candles, she can see the cages…the red eyes watching…the shining eyes of animals that had the light hit them from the side…

The dead bodies and twisted limbs…some have extra limbs…to many to be human but far to deranged to be an animal. Some have no limbs…just head on torsos.

It makes her sick. The stench of rot and the almost deafening sound of flies either eating till their stomachs explode or laying eggs for more family members to share the feast with. And the screaming and crying of animals and people…it all seems like to much.

This time she doesn't hold it back.

Her body bends forward, file still clasped absently in a hand as she opens her mouth. She's eaten nothing but she lets the acidic bile come forward and hit the ground like a blood splatter. It hurts and she can feel something that has nothing to do with the rancid smell sting the bottoms of her eyes.

Tears.

But she doesn't cry. She takes deep breaths and spits the remains of acid out. There's still a bitter taste. She stands up straight and looks around again, the image is warped from the salty tears she'd been trained to never let fall.

She forgets the rest of her mission. She needs to go home…she needs to talk to Kisuke. She needs to feel safe.

And as she turns, and as she feels so horrible because there's nothing she can do, she spots something that makes her stomach grind.

It's small…it looks like a human fox. Its eyes are wide, mouth drawn down into an all too human frown on its warped snout. Its paws look too much like small hands and parts of it have human _skin_…not fur or missing patches of it. It whimpers and shakes and stares.

Soi feels like she'll vomit more acid when it _talks_ to her. "Help…help…" She doesn't think…everything blurry.

* * *

><p>She hits the ground hard, and gasps for breath. She still has the file and she hopes it's enough. That…and,<p>

She looks over. It's watching her both thankfully, curiously, and fearfully.

Soi turns to the tree she's under and pulls out her bag. Thankful that she has such good navigation skills, she pulls out some bread and a small bit of jerky. She holds both out. It sniffs both and eats the bread first before nibbling on the dried meat before it decides it doesn't want it.

"Thank you." It mumbles, it sounds like a small boy.

She doesn't know why she saved it…or how she got out. All she knows is that there was an explosion and that her markings still itched. "Don't mention it." She huffs, still trying to catch her breath. She tugs off the lab coat and pulls on her bag.

She holds the coat open for the creature to climb into, it does so cautiously. She lifted it carefully and wrapped it so only its head was visible. It blinked up at her.

Soi took off in the direction of home. She'd be there in almost two days. The file is tucked carefully into her bag and the creature is secure in her arms as she runs. She just hopes, as she leaps from a short cliff, that she doesn't end up somewhere dead.

* * *

><p>Kisuke blinks.<p>

It blinks back.

Kisuke opens his mouth and takes a breath. "…What is it?" He finally asks.

Soi shrugs. She's back home, in Kisuke's office at the palace. The small creature is sitting on his desk watching the blonde man curiously. The file on transmutation is held closed in his hands. "I found it in a cage in a room full of…," she shakes her head, not wanting to remember. "Full of things that shouldn't exist."

Kisuke sits forward and the creature ducks its head fearfully and takes a step back. Soi thinks it looks almost cute…but far too human…a malformed human/cat/fox…that's what it looks like and she feels guilty she almost thought it was cute. It must be in pain.

But its fear was pointless; as Kisuke dropped his free hand gently on its small head…a little bigger than his palm…he gently tipped its head this way and that. It looked at Soi curiously, she smiled. "Do you have a name?" Kisuke asked, letting go.

It stuttered. "A-Akemi." Now that Soi heard the voice clearly…it was a boy with the undertones of an animalistic growl.

"Akemi…do you remember anything about your life?" Kisuke asked.

Akemi made a face, concentration, and a minute passed before he shakes his head. "Sorry…" he mumbles.

"It's all right. There's no need to apologies for that." Kisuke smiles kindly. He looks up at Soi. "Good work. I'll report a successful mission. Take him home; make sure nobody sees we'll talk more when I get back."

Soi nods and holds out her hands. Akemi carefully hops into them, looking back at Kisuke.

"We'll take care of you. Don't be scared okay?" He smiles at the creature, who nods.

Soi takes the lab coat and covers the creature carefully, she can feel it settle in her arms and its chest expands and deflates in what she can only guess is relief. She nods to the blonde and leaves his office.

One floor down and ten steps from the next set of stairs to take her to the first floor she almost runs into someone. She apologies quickly and several times.

She's in the palace. She's the only assassin allowed into any part of the royal's home…so she knows it's not an underdog worker and anyone who isn't an underdog like herself she knows is higher than herself…so she says sorry, even though she doesn't feel it.

"Who are you?" Someone asks, a voice covered in honey and curiosity and other sweet things Soi never had a chance at because she is who she is and does what she does. She looks up to see a girl maybe a little older than herself, her hair a curious shade of violet and dressed in robes of clearly fine silk that Soi thinks she looks uncomfortable in. She realizes it all at once when she sees the slim golden crown wrapped around her head.

This is the princess.

"My apologies princess, I didn't mean to get in your way."

"Relax; it's not like you meant to do it on purpose right?" And Soi is convinced she hears a tease in her tone and looks up. The princess smiles and raises a perfectly delicate eyebrow as her smirk widens.

Then, to Soi, it's as if time has turned backwards several years and she's that still innocent girl that's only begun to train in hand-to-hand combat. She's sitting with Kisuke and blushing madly and yelling at him as he falls back in fits of laughter.

"Of course not." She speaks quickly, just as she had back then, and a blush almost touches her cheeks. But she's not innocent anymore and the blush goes away.

The princess chuckles and shakes her head. "You didn't answer my first question." She states patiently.

"I'm Dragon ma'am."

"Dragon?"

"It's a codename…I'm not supposed to speak my real name in public." She answers.

The princess raises both brows and glances around. "It looks like this is very un-public."

Soi smiled, this woman was…endearing. "My name is Soi Fon ma'am. Most who know me just call me Soi. But I must stress that when others are around I'm called Dragon."

She didn't think she'd be seeing this royal ever again though. She glanced at her again and looked down quickly.

"I'm Yoruichi."

"Princess…isn't it inappropriate to be talking to me?"

She frowned. "You don't enjoy my company?"

"It's not that, although I have to say you're much nicer than I thought you'd be, I just meant that…well I serve here princess…I'm not worth talking to."

The princess laughed. "You need to relax." She tapped a finger to the assassin's nose before floating by, or it seemed like she was floating to Soi.

She watched her go for a moment before turning and leaving the palace quickly. She hoped, for reasons even she didn't quite understand, that she didn't cross pass with that royal…or any royal ever again. (Besides the King…who she _had_ to see.)

* * *

><p>Soi didn't feel much like eating. Even about two days after she'd seen that place. Isane greeted her happily.<p>

"Soi, welcome home." She smiled from her spot beside Kiyone.

"Hey twerp!" Kukaku grinned over at her. Renji and Ichigo waved. "Feel like I haven't seen ya in days! Come here!" The dark haired woman waved her over. Soi would have…had she not been carrying a creature.

"Um…in a minute." She tried to ignore Kukaku's frown as she headed into the kitchen and grabbed some left over jerky.

Walking to her room she opened the door and closed herself in quickly. Gently she set Akemi on the bed. He shook himself, ruffling his fur out. He looked around and sniffed curiously.

"Where's…this?"

"This is my room. You're going to have to stay here most of the time. I'm sorry." She apologized when she saw him frown. "There's nothing like you just walking around Akemi. You'll be able to come out sometimes…it'll just be a while." She dropped some of the dried meat onto the bed. "You'll be staying in here with me."

He nodded and took some of the meat, nibbling carefully.

"I'll be right back." Soi tapped his head gently and left her room.

Kukaku grinned when she saw her. "Come on!" She stood, her mechanical arm raised. Soi smiled and walked over to hug the taller woman. "Feels like its been forever kid." She ruffled the assassin's hair playfully.

Soi chuckled. It was nice to forget about her job when she came home. Or…until Kisuke came home.

"You're not leaving again as soon as last time are ya?" Kiyone asked, leaning over her sister.

That was a good question, which Soi didn't have an answer to. "I don't know. It doesn't work the way you're thinking. If I have a mission I have to go. Whenever it is." Or she'd be just another body in the heap.

Kiyone frowned. "Okay."

Isane dropped her book onto her sister's back, who let herself lay down with a frown. "We're glad your back Soi."

"Yep, now go shower I'm sure ya haven't yet." Kukaku laughed at Soi's slight blush and gently gave her a push backwards. Soi turned and returned to her room.

"Come on Akemi." She grabbed some fresh clothes and scooped up the creature curled up at the end of her bed. "I'm sure you need a shower just as much as I do."

"Bath?" He mumbled.

_Oh lord_, Soi thought, he remembered nothing of being human…this would be hard.

* * *

><p>After she'd taken her shower and scrubbed off all the dirt, grime, and old blood she had forgotten about that crusted across her belly and her thigh she finished drying herself.<p>

Akemi watched with mild interest from his perch on the sink. He spent most of the time sniffing the soaps and perfumes that littered the area.

"Come on." Soi encouraged as she filled the tub with warm soapy water. He stood and hopped into her arms. She placed him in the water and turned it off. The creature sniffed the water carefully. Soi once again felt guilty for almost thinking he looked cute.

But then she saw the patches of human skin…and the human eyes and the deformed snout…the guilt stung hard.

She shook her head and lathered some soap onto her hands. Glad to be out of her work clothes, she was in a slightly to big white shirt and some blue shorts that were a bit tattered.

Akemi looked pleased when she gently massaged the soap into his fur down his back. She scratched behind his ears and washed the top of his head.

"Close your eyes." He obeyed and she dumped clean warm water over him to rinse him off. He shook his fur back out and stared up at her curiously.

Soi looked around when a knock came to the door. "Who is it?"

"Me." The slightly laughing voice of Kisuke called back.

"Come in."

He closed the door quietly behind himself and watched her finish cleaning the creature. "Soi?"

"Yes?"

"…I've talked to the king."

She tried not to show she was nervous.

"You'll be guarding his daughter until your next mission."

"So they can keep an eye on me?"

"More or less. They're not going to kill you or anything…but I'm sure they're not above threats."

Soi sucked her teeth. "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow morning. She'll be waiting for you with a royal guard member who'll explain what you're supposed to do and not supposed to do."

Soi sighed in defeat as she pulled Akemi out of the bath. "What about him…I can't leave him here alone." He looked up at her as she started to dry him off.

"I can take him with me to my office. There are plenty of hiding places and hardly anyone comes in there very much." Kisuke offered.

Soi looked down at Akemi. "You hear?"

He simply nods.

Soi finishes drying him off as Kisuke attempts to make subtle conversation. She figured something like this would happen. And damn her luck because it had.

She tried to ignore the itching on the backs of her hands.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright...I've decided that seeing as I usually don't have enough ideas when it comes to things like this and this is why my stories sometimes fall short...I'll let you guys pick Soi's next mission. If it's a good idea, I'll use it and give you total credit...if it's stupid and I can't think of anything...be prepared for a short bad chapter. Much like how I think this one went!<strong>


	4. AN

**It may take me a while to update this story, because once again, my ideas are failing me. So instead of forcing them out and writing a short bad story. I'm going to wait till I have a solid idea and desire to write some well planned chapters. That way it'll be better, hopefully, my writing is getting better all the time and that's why I use my other account to see how much I've improved in different points of view. **

**My point! Is that I'd rather write well and short than long and totally stupid and pintless.**

**This should be updated, as well as Same Blood...in about a week or so. Maybe less if ideas hit me sooner.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Did I not mention this was a YoruSoi story? Oops. Lol but considering my history it should have been obvious. I know it isn't much but it's something.**

**I do make mistakes. I am human.**

* * *

><p>Kisuke takes Akemi with him the next morning, there are several places the creature can hide when company comes, and plenty of room for him to run around and play with something he may have in his office.<p>

Soi lies in her bed, arms behind her head, fingers laced together.

She doesn't want to see the princess. Not in an unfriendly rude way, but an unnerving way.

She couldn't help but think the princess was able to see right through her, _into_ her, able to see things about herself even she didn't know.

That made her nervous.

But a job was a job and however short it may be her life was her life.

As she got up and slid out of her thin bed, she pondered.

What would she be doing if she wasn't doing this? Where would she be? Where would she have gone?

And she ponders only for a moment.

Things like a bitter untouched future are best left that way.

* * *

><p>Her feet feel heavy as she pads through the house. She'd gotten permission to walk around barefooted while she was here.<p>

She reached the end of what seemed to be a never ending hallway. She knocks twice.

"Come in." A bored voice calls, the princess. Soi slides the doors open and takes in the dim room.

Plush cushions on the floor around a small stone Koi pond in the center of the room. High windows that let it all the sunlight. Walls decorated with family paintings and sketches of cats chasing bees. It feels…welcoming.

And surprisingly, so do the laughing golden eyes of the princess, who's sitting with her back to a cushion, near the Koi pond. "Come closer."

"You won't kill me will you?" She was only half joking. But Yoruichi laughs; she laughs so hard her teeth gleam in the light.

"I promise I won't kill you. What good is a bodyguard dead?"

"You could be a were-monster." Soi steps closer.

Yoruichi smirks; she's amused by this game. Most other guards would just grunt and nod or mumble a stiff, 'Yes your highness.' But not this one, it was interesting. "I could be."

"But I also suppose that a dead soldier, with however many weapons is still, nevertheless…a dead soldier." Soi relents and steps closer still, stopping on the other side of the cushions, still across from the princess.

"Ah, wiser words were never said." Yoruichi grins. "Sit."

Soi sits.

Yoruichi rolls her eyes. "Over here." She points to the cushion beside her. "Relax will you?"

Soi shuffles over and sits in front of the cushion with cat paw prints sewn into its red fabric.

"There's really no need for you to be here you know." Yoruichi stretches her legs, and the assassin notices with a jolt that she's wearing a very short kimono that stops mid-thigh. The princess rests her toes over the edge of the bowl, the fish skitter to and fro, some taking curios open-mouthed bites to see if its food.

"With all the defense my father has around this place…unless the attackers were a horde of demons…nobody will get this far inside."

"I'll take my duty as seriously as I ever have."

"Deadly?" Yoruichi turns her head and raises a brow.

"Exactly."

The princess smirks. "More or less, I actually just want to get to know you better."

"…Did you request for me?" Again she felt unnerved.

"Does it matter? You're obligated to be in my company now Dragon. And you're also obligated to answer any questions I may have."

"I didn't take you for a woman who took anything with an obligation."

Yoruichi chuckled. "Again, you're quite wise. You can choose to answer or not answer. I don't care. But feel free to ask me whatever you want in turn."

Soi simply nods.

"Do you enjoy what you do?"

_Sometimes_. "No."

"Why do you work for my father?"

_I don't know_. "…I can't answer that."

"You know Kisuke right?"

"Yes."

"Are you friends."

_Most of the time_. "He's still annoying."

That gets a chuckle from the princess as she watches the assassin. "Anything you'd like to ask?" She frowns when Soi shakes her head. "Be that way, those were just the questions I had on the spot." She almost pouts and it almost gets a laugh out of Soi.

"Come on." Yoruichi sits up after a moment of silence. She brings her legs down and stands, placing her weight into her right legs; she looks down at the shorter woman. "I may as well show you around right?"

* * *

><p>Yoruichi takes Soi on the grand tour of the palace, castle…whichever people wanted to call it, she didn't care.<p>

She took Soi to see the kitchens, the best rooms, her room of course, the grand hall, the working offices, the barracks where the security and under dogs trained most of the day, the inside pool, and now…she was taking Soi to her favorite place.

"This," Yoruichi paused dramatically. "Is a place just for me. No one is allowed in unless they have permission from me. Not even my father can let someone in, that was his order." She grins at Soi's curiously dark eyes. "Prepare to be amazed Dragon." She slides open the doors.

Soi's mouth opens a fraction and a small sound of awe slips from them, as soon as it happens she knows she should have controlled herself better. Yoruichi grins back at her. "Come on." She ushers the assassin out of the palace and into the garden.

There's bamboo everywhere, little ponds dot the large area, and a small house with bamboo curtains sits on the far wall. It only has one entrance, and the walls must be over ten feet high. Flowers she didn't even know existed sprout from all sections of the place. And little critters she's never seen even in a book watch her curiously as she passes. Yoruichi walks in front of her over a small red bridge.

"It's amazing isn't it?" Yoruichi grins as she stops in the middle and leans against a banister. "My father and mother had all this done for me, it's very relaxing. Come this way." She stands and waves a delicately curled finger at her companion.

Soi follows closely, almost eagerly. It's foreign to her. She can't remember the last time she felt excited or eager to see more of anything. But this…she'd never seen a place so incredible. "You almost have your own world out here." She mumbles as she watches a dragonfly buzz by her side.

"I know, I love it." Yoruichi chirps happily as she pulls up the bamboo shade of the small shack near the back wall. It looks like her sitting room; only instead of a pond it has a small tea set in the center of the cushions. But Yoruichi walks right by it. Soi follows her out the back.

There's a small pond out here surrounded completely with bamboo. Soi figures this must be where she gets the most privacy. Yoruichi turns back to her. "I like to cool down here sometimes."

Soi blinks. "Cool down?"

Yoruichi nods, smirking. She turns back towards the pond and in a second her robe is off and she's stepping carefully into the clear cool water. Soi's a very controlled person; she can even control her blushes and her tears, and occasionally how hot she gets. But she couldn't control this.

The blush happens before she even knows it and the nosebleed starts even faster. She sees Yoruichi start to turn and she sees the curve of her breast before she whips around and sits with her back to the princess.

"Hmm? What's the matter?" She can hear the smirk in her voice. Soi shakes her head and keeps her chin up. "Did I do something wrong?" Soi shakes her head again.

"You're the princess, it's wrong for me to look at you in such a state. Forgive my manners." Soi answers stiffly. This…this is something she's never felt. A pounding heart, raging blush, wired nerves…she feels frazzled almost. She thinks this must be how normal kids feel when they see someone beautiful.

But she's an assassin…she's killed people. The blood washes off but there's still a stain. She can't feel feelings like this about anyone, especially not the princess. So she swallows them down and watches the garden through the small tea house and doesn't bat an eye when a bird lands on her knee. And she doesn't flinch when Yoruichi starts flicking water at her back playfully and calls out to her, teasing her.

She can't do things like that. She shouldn't even be doing things like this. But she had orders, and the last thing she wanted was to be just another dead body.


	6. Chapter 6

**I know it's been a really long time...I'm sorry. I've been really super busy with the first two weeks of college. That and I haven't had much mojo to write. But I'm trying. I'll write those two request chapters to T.G.I.F as soon as I can. Maybe even one tonight. :) Again, I'm really sorry even if this chapter isn't great and only a few people read this.**

**I do make mistakes. I am human.**

* * *

><p>These kinds of things were best ignored. Soi simply had to figure – because she hadn't been trained to deal with these issues (or feelings).<p>

So when Yoruichi finally got out of the pond and dried off only to press her naked front to Soi's clothed back and wrap her arms around her neck loosely – the assassin did just as she thought she should, she ignored the princess.

"Are you a dummy or something?" Yoruichi asked, letting her head fall to the side, resting on her shoulder as she watched the shorter woman with curious eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"A clone. Or…something." Yoruichi chuckled at how peculiar her question sounded.

"No princess, I'm not a clone, a dummy, or anything else you might think of. I'm just an assassin that works for your father."

Yoruichi huffed. "It's always all about my parents."

"No, because if it were I wouldn't be here. You'd have a guard that wasn't as trained."

"So you're saying it's all about me?"

"Isn't it always about the heir to the throne?" Soi asked, more curious than stating a fact. She'd heard it, and she could see why…but it never hurt to be sure.

Yoruichi pulled away from Soi's back and stood. "I suppose it is." She hummed as she pulled back on her robe. "You can turn around now, I'm wearing clothes."

"A robe is not a set of clothing princess."

The princess huffed and strode by the still sitting assassin. "You're so stuffy Dragon, jeeze loosen up."

Soi stood, frowning. "I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Yoruichi stopped – glancing back at her guard with curiosity.

"Simply what I said princess. I cannot, I have to follow my orders at all costs…if I don't – and I were found out – no I can't. I apologize."

"Then I'm ordering you to relax."

"If I do and something happens…," she looked up at the princess. "They'll kill me. And Kisuke…and maybe even the others as some kind of conspiracy story."

Yoruichi blinked – frowning, she knelt beside her guard and stared at her for a long moment. "I'm sorry…that was selfish of me to say." She smiled. "But…I have to say I never would have pegged you for that kind of person."

"What kind?" Soi was curious.

"Most assassins I've met are just concerned over their own necks and their money. But you…you want to follow orders because if you die…who will look after your friends right?" Yoruichi took Soi's hand. "I've never met a noble assassin."

Soi scoffed. "I don't consider myself noble."

"But you have noble intentions." Yoruichi tugged on Soi's hand and pulled her into standing. "And that's what matters. It's also how I know I can trust you, besides your outstandingly loyal track record with my father." She smirked. "Haven't failed a mission yet; or rather, you haven't yet returned with something not useful."

Soi blinked. "What…how…huh?" How did the princess know about her missions?

Yoruichi grinned as she pulled the shorter woman along after her back towards the palace. "Don't tell, but I snuck a peek at your file. You seem to be my father's best and favorite assassin. That's hard to do. Please my father I mean."

"I hadn't gotten that impression." She tried to stop the obvious sarcasm in her voice, but she couldn't help it, so she bit her lip and waited for her ward to snap at her. Imagine her surprise when she laughed.

"Most people say that about him. But I guess he means well…I don't get why some people hate him sometimes. I don't know what he really does." Yoruichi shrugged.

Soi was confused at the princess' reply. "Shouldn't you care?" She asked curiously as Yoruichi shot her a strange look. "I don't mean any disrespect, but if you are going to take over shouldn't you know these things?"

"Are you trying to weasel bad information out of me about my father?" The question was so outrageous Soi almost laughed – almost – but instead she simply stopped walking at stared at her ward for a long moment.

"What?"

"Is that what you're doing?" Yoruichi stepped away.

"…I apologize princess but that's absurd. I already have information on the king that could get him killed by other kingdoms and I've kept it for years. Tell me," She closed the gap slightly and Yoruichi chewed her lip nervously. "Why would I use that information just to get stabbed in the back and end up dead?"

"I'm sorry." Yoruichi mumbled, taking Soi's arm again. "I won't bring that up again." And then it was cheerful again, like nothing was ever upset. It was the story of the assassin's life…one huge cover up. "So, to answer your question earlier, I do sometimes try and learn about what he does. But he never lets me."

"Why would he do that?" Soi glanced down at her free arm, the mark on the back of her hand itched.

Yoruichi shrugged as she led her back inside and closed the doors. "You tell me." She placed her hand over the door and Soi noticed something – like she blinked and it was gone – it happened so fast she wasn't even sure she'd seen it.

"So!" The princess turned quickly, her hair flipping over her shoulder from the sudden movement; Soi watched the violet locks flitter before settling. "Should we go see Kisuke?"

Soi nodded before she understood the question. Had she thought it through she would have still nodded, but not as quickly. The princess seemed to be making her want to agree to everything. But she thought of the deformed creature Kisuke had with him and felt more settled.

"Let's go then, shall we?" Yoruichi took Soi's arm again, actually looking at it this time. "What's this?" She held up the assassin's smaller hand, looking at the marking there.

"Your guess is as good as mine, princess." Soi sighed, she didn't know. The only memory she has is pain and blood. She didn't want to mention that she'd had other dreams…even stranger than the dreams of hospital beds and open arm sockets.

Yoruichi hummed and let go of Soi's arm, jogging forward. "Race you, Dragon." She winked and ran ahead. The assassin blinked in surprise before shouting and following after her. Usually she prided herself in being quick…but Yoruichi – a stay at home princess – was much faster than her.

Needless to say her ego was wounded.

* * *

><p>Kisuke seemed only slightly surprised when the princess and the assassin came through his door. But he smiled and set down his pen. "Hello ladies, and what do I owe this pleasure?" He shot Soi a side glance.<p>

"I just thought maybe Dragon here would want to see a familiar face in this place while she stays here." Yoruichi crossed her arms under her bust and grinned back at her guard. Kisuke chuckled, nodding, looking at his roommate.

"A quick favor please? I know it's rude to ask but there's a box in the next room that's a little too heavy for me. But someone like you, it should be no issue." He snickered at her glare. "It's black with a white symbol on the top."

Soi rolled her eyes and stepped across the office to slide open the door to the closet. It actually had a window it was so big.

"Ah, princess don't worry about helping her. Long time no see!" Kisuke jumped up and slid the door closed as Yoruichi went to follow Soi.

Soi glanced around, knowing exactly why she was really in here. "Akemi?" She hissed softly under Kisuke's slightly louder voice.

"Soi?" A small voice mumbled. She spotted his estranged snout poking around a large stack of boxes. He looked around the corner and his eyes lit up. She felt bad for what must have been the hundredth time now for thinking he looked kind of cute. "Soi!" She shushed him as he yipped.

He hopped over to her legs and attempted to jump into her arms but he fell short and slid back down her leg. He seemed perplexed but tried again before she finally picked him up.

"Is she the only guard your father's assigned?" She heard Kisuke.

"Has Kisuke been nice to you?" Soi asked as she sat on a spare chair a little away from the door. He nuzzled an ear into her hand and nodded. She would have to ask if there was any possible way to turn him back.

But if she was honest with herself…she knew there wasn't any way.

"Can I…leave now?" Akemi asked with wide eyes. Soi shook her head and listened as Yoruichi chatted with Kisuke.

"Not yet. I have to stay with the princess while I'm on duty. You have to stay with Kisuke." She sat up straight when she heard Kisuke ask her why she was being so slow. "I have to go now. Don't make a sound until Kisuke comes to get you." She set the creature down and looked around.

No way would Kisuke of all people tell her to get something and it wouldn't be there. It'd make him look suspicious in front of the princess. She spotted a black box with a white symbol on top. "This must be it." She slid her fingers under the object and lifted it. "What's in this thing?" She hissed.

The box felt like it weighed two tons. The leather straps around her biceps tightened and strained as she lifted the box. "Bastard." She hissed, turning and heading back out. Her feet fell heavy on the hard wood. She felt herself teeter back as she lifted her right foot to slide the door open. "What the hell is in this box?"

"Something for the king. You just happened to come along before I had to take it out myself. Thank you. I'd ask you to take it for me but you'd most likely kill me."

"Yes, yes I would." She sighed when she set it down on the desk. "Do you need anything else?"

"Not at all." Kisuke grinned. "Although I must tell you it's starting to sound like you'll have another mission soon. My guess would be about a month from now at best."

Yoruichi made a face and pulled Soi back by her arm. "I doubt father would use her."

Kisuke hummed. "I don't."

* * *

><p>Yoruichi lay in her bed. Somehow now it seemed lonely, she had enough room for at least three people on either side of her. She sighed and sunk into her expanse of pillows. She glanced down and almost smirked as she watched Soi sit rigidly at the end of the bed. "Do you ever sleep?"<p>

"Of course. But not yet." She'd checked the room five times to make sure every way in was secure. It almost made the princess feel like a prisoner. "You have to wait until a certain time…and by standards people who are this field have to be light sleepers." She explained.

Yoruichi blinked. "…I didn't know that…Dragon…Soi?"

"You're required to call me by my codename princess." She sounded almost bitter.

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"Here."

"Don't be silly, you can sleep here with me."

"That's inappropriate princess."

"No it isn't, there's plenty of space for you to stay as far as you need to so it's appropriate. You should stay comfortable."

"That's not a priority."

"Yes it is. If your body is sore and stiff how well can you move if someone does break in?"

Soi bit her lip and imagined herself turning and glaring at her ward. But even someone as prideful as herself had to admit that she did have a point. If her muscles were sore and her joints were stiff…she could mess up…and the princess could get killed. She sighed and sat back, lifting her feet up onto the bed before standing.

Yoruichi watched curiously as the assassin turned and walked to the head of the bed, she thought it was strange how her feet barely made an imprint or how the bed didn't seem to dip. "You have those marks on your feet too."

"Yes."

She turned and sat before falling back lazily and staring up at the ceiling too. She almost acted like she did all that time ago when she felt Yoruichi slither closer and wrap her arms around her. She almost squirmed and tried her hardest to break away with a furious blush.

But she was an assassin…she had to be hard and ignore those kinds of things. Right?

"Princess,"

"You don't get hugs often do you?"

"Yes…well…," _When I let my friends close enough_. "Sometimes."

"So enjoy it." Yoruichi mumbles into her guard's shoulder.

"But this is,"

"Yeah, yeah…inappropriate. I understand you're all about the rules, but I think you can let yourself have this…whatever this is."

Soi swallowed back her sudden constriction of emotion. Not even Isane or the occasionally kind Kukaku had ever done this; given her something simple that actually meant so much…just because. "I'm not…I'm…,"

"You're an assassin, you work for my father, your friend is Kisuke, and you live with at least four other people…but even you have to know that's not all of who you are. Don't you?"

"I don't think so princess. I'm an assassin…I kill on order. I don't think I'm worth more than what I am now."

"But you don't even know what you are."

That struck a nerve. "No…no I don't." She lifted a hand to rest it on her forehead, but she pulled it back when it almost seared her skin. The triangle mark burned red and itched her whole hand. She brought it down to her mouth and sunk her teeth down. She bit so hard she could taste that bitter copper of blood on her tongue.

"Dragon?" Yoruichi looked up finally, her golden eyes widened. "Soi!" She gasped and sat up, detaching herself from the assassin before prying her hand away from her mouth. "What are you doing?" She pulled the injured hand to herself and wrapped her abandoned jacket from the side of the bed around the wound.

"I'm sorry." Soi sighed. "I wouldn't bother with that by the way." She nodded to the jacket. "You're just running it…it's not worth it."

"…Soi…I don't understand…I can't pretend to. But you don't have to hurt yourself for any reason."

_I do_. "I know."

"You can talk to me. We are going to be spending so much time together we'll hate each other after this first week you know. May as well use it while we can call each other friends without glaring."

_I can't_. "Thank you."

Yoruichi left her hand bandaged in her silk orange jacket that night and fell asleep holding the injured hand in her own over Soi's chest.

Needless to say…Soi didn't sleep very well that night.


	7. Chapter 7

**It's short...I know...deal with it!**

**I do make mistakes. I am human.**

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><p>Soi tossed while she slept, her hand still itched with tingling pain. The cuts from her teeth had already sealed shut.<p>

_"Get it! Hold it down!"_

Soi flinched as pictures flashed behind her eyes and drained just as quickly.

_"What if they don't hold?" A man holding a helmet under his arm muttered with worry._

_"They will. We can't afford the consequences if they don't, so we're cautious enough to make sure they will." Another man, with his helmet on, answered calmly._

Yoruichi rolled over and watched Soi, who'd shaken from her sleep with her rough thrashing. "Soi?"

_A man and woman stood, both covered in blue blood, they stood over some sort of shiny green carcass._

"Soi?" Yoruichi sat up, but she didn't dare touch the assassin, who was sweating and thrashing and whimpering.

_Bright blue eyes… "Wake up!"_

Soi shot up, gasping. Holding her hands together and kicking the covers off herself to free her feet that felt as though she'd stepped on lava rocks.

_"__Mǔ qīn?"_ Soi questioned aloud.

"Soi?"

The assassin flinched and looked around, Yoruichi sat back, unnerved. Her eyes were a sharp gold instead of a hard grey. She reached out and took hold of the princess' arm, gripping it tight. Yoruichi flinched and watched as Soi's grip tightened even more. She felt her bones strain under the pressure.

Soi pulled her closer and sat up on her knees. "_Wǒ xiǎng jiàn nǐ._" She growled.

Yoruichi didn't understand the language, but that wasn't what was getting under her skin. Rather it was how her skin felt. She shivered as the assassin leaned over her; she couldn't help her whimper when the chest of her slip was torn open.

"_Nǐ hěn piào liang_." Soi growled again and released Yoruichi's arm to dig her fingers into the princess' side and push her down on the bed. She roughly brought her lips down on Yoruichi's and palmed her right breast with her free hand.

She could have fought, she could have. But she didn't…instead she wrapped her arms around Soi's neck and pulled her closer. She didn't even know if Soi was herself, but she didn't care. But she did…and she didn't. Those burning golden eyes made her slightly nervous.

_This is wrong._

Yoruichi pulled back and almost stopped when Soi looked down at her with confused burning eyes…the same molten gold as her own. Almost the same…she saw flecks of blue as well. The princess lowered her gaze to Soi's mouth; her canines were longer than before…sharper.

Soi was not herself, and that wasn't okay.

The assassin fell back when a hard slap met her across the face. She blinked and stared down at herself. The marks on the backs of her hands scorched and her nails looked black. "What…happened?" Her voice was raspy and grating.

"You don't remember? It _just_ happened." Yoruichi tried to keep her slip closed tight as she glanced around for her robe.

"What?" Soi looked up, her eyes zeroed in on the dark mark on Yoruichi's left forearm, and the obvious fabric missing from the front of her ward's night clothes. "What happened?"

The princess didn't know if she should lie or tell the truth. But how could she lie when the truth was so clear? She found her robe and slid it on, covering her chest carefully and tying the silk belt tight around her hips.

"Princess," Soi rubbed her head as she stared at the princess' back. "Please?"

"I don't know what happened, I really don't." Yoruichi answered slowly and turned, running her fingers through her hair. "One second you're tossing and turning like you're having a nightmare and the next I can't even understand the language you were using."

The assassin looked down at herself, she felt normal…almost. There was something in her chest that didn't feel right. But she couldn't place the feeling. "I'm sorry, I'm supposed to protect you…not hurt you." She stood.

"What are you doing?"

Soi glanced up. "I'm going to tell your father I should be replaced."

"No you're not. It was an accident, you clearly couldn't help it. Sit down and rest, it's almost morning." Yoruichi peered up at the high window over her bed, the sky was changing from a deep midnight blue to a softer shade of itself.

The princess crawled back into bed and closed her eyes after she'd gotten comfortable, facing her guard, she fell back asleep in just a few minutes despite what had just happened.

Soi didn't sleep.

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><p>"You what?" Kisuke asked, eyes going wide as he watched Soi carefully. "Tell me once more."<p>

The assassin grunted in distaste, sitting here with her half friend…okay good friend, while Yoruichi sat in a nice breakfast with her parents (and fifty guards). "I already told you three times, I'm not going to explain it again."

"I know! I still can't get over it!" Kisuke raised his voice, but lowered it when Akemi curled up tighter in Soi's lap. "Let me see those marks." He stepped around his desk and eyed the assassin's feet and limp hands that rested on Akemi's head and back.

He took her right hand and eyed the black mark, he scratched at it with a dull thumbnail. He hummed to himself and pressed the center of the triangle…nothing.

"What are you expecting to happen?" Soi asked, staring at him almost curiously.

He glanced down at her then back to her hand. "…I don't know."

Soi snatched her hand back. "It happened and I have to make sure it doesn't happen again…I'm not even sure how it happened or why but it did."

"Did you have any strange dreams?"

"None that I can really remember."

"Nothing?"

"No."

Kisuke sighed. "Well either way…we'll keep an eye out for any activity from them. It's about all we can do really."

Soi nodded…her life just seemed like one mystery after another.

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><p><strong>I forgot what most of those Chinese things translate as...one apparently means "I want to see you."<strong>

**The first one I think means mother...I dunno. Someone look them up.**


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